Many Americans are surprised to learn that women once played professional baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from 1943-1954.

Though these women flourished as professional athletes, the league's demise in the suburban, traditional 1950s led our culture to utterly forget the colorful lives of these pioneering female athletes. It wasn't until Title IX revolutionized American sports in the early 1970s that a culture of women's sports was truly born.

The activities and curriculum inside this website will, hand-in-hand with the live electronic field trip broadcast, look at pioneering women baseball players, owners, umpires and teams from as early as 1866 right on through to present day women playing and working in baseball.

The common thread running through the stories examined will be women's - and girls' - efforts to be a part of America's "National Pastime," baseball.

From leaving home to travel to tryouts, life in the AAGBPL was probably pretty startling for a teenage girl. Learn about what it took to be a baseball player while being concerned about the rules of dating, manners, education and constant chaperones.
>> Packing my Bags Essay
>> AAGPBL Research/Writing Project  "Getting to Know You"
>> AAGPBL Traveling Suitcase Activity

The ball wasn't always the same size? Nope. The baseball used by the women of the AAGPBL went through 5 different size changes throughout the duration of the league. And don't think that a smaller or larger ball just means that your target is a little easier or more difficult to hit. A range of physics issues including how to throw the balls to where to hit the ball on the bat faced the players.
>> Play Ball!! Changes in the AAGPBL
>> Diamonds in the Rough

The women of the AAGPBL were traded from team to team much like professional players today. Of course suddenly playing against your former teammate made for interesting dynamics in the league. Learn about some of the issues facing the girls.
>> Community Team Pennant
>> AAGPBL Reunion Pennant
>> AAGPBL 60th Celebration Reunion Poster Project
>> Women in Time

In the early 1970s Title IX may have started us down the road to equality in sports, but the women in the early years of the game also faced their own struggles.
>> Title IX and Sports